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- Direct Metal Printing leads to new top speed record at racing event - 3D printed metal part solves critical engineering challenge, faster and at a lower cost than other manufacturing methods - Speakers from 3D Systems, Metal Technology, Inc. and Engli

ROCK HILL, South Carolina, July 17, 2014 – 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced today a new webinar titled: Metal Technology, Inc. and English Racing Push the Envelope with Direct Metal Printing from 3D Systems. Scheduled for Tuesday July 22, 2014, at 11:00 am Eastern Daylight Time, the webinar will reveal how technicians from English Racing and engineers from Metal Technology (MTI) rapidly transformed an idea into reality. They 3D printed it in 17-4 PH Stainless Steel, installed it on the vehicle’s engine, and only 3 days later the vehicle was successful in track testing.

English Racing, based in Washington state, tunes and races high-performance cars. The team’s Mitsubishi Evo was exceeding oil pressure limitations at high RPMs, a situation that had already destroyed several engines. The team at English Racing had an engineering solution but could not justify a costly and time-consuming casting process to test out the idea. Instead, they turned to MTI in Albany, Oregon for a solution. MTI employed its newly-acquired ProX 300 Direct Metal Printer from 3D Systems to print the necessary parts.

“Prior to 3D printed metal components, the costs of designing and fabricating “one-off” or small lots of parts or components was prohibitive in most cases,” said Gary Cosmer, CEO of MTI. “3D printing also opens up a whole new way of engineering components that are lighter and perform better, because there is no limit on complexity. Engineers can design exactly the component they need, without worrying about whether it’s possible to manufacture it. The ProX 300 prints parts that are impossible to make any other way.”

English Racing had an innovative approach to the problem using a new pulley with a larger diameter, which would turn slower and thereby lower the oil pressure. MTI printed the part in 5 hours, and within 3 days it was installed in the car and running on the test track. 3 months later, the English Racing team put its newly designed oil pump pulley to the test at the Pikes Peak ½ mile top-speed event and achieved 184.9 miles per hour, placing first place in the Sedan Class.

“We had been successfully running the car on the track and we thought we might have a car that would put us in the winner’s circle” said Zach, Technician & Tuner for the English Racing Team “When we got first place in the Sedan Class at 184.9 miles per hour, we were stoked. The re-engineered part, printed quickly and easily in metal, is truly a winner for us.”

3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D printing centric design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced on-demand custom parts for professionals and consumers alike in materials including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. The company also provides integrated 3D scan-based design, freeform modeling and inspection tools and an integrated 3D planning and printing digital thread for personalized surgery and patient specific medical devices. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods and reduce the time and cost of designing new products by printing real parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, prototype or produce functional parts and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future.

•3DS invented 3D printing with its Stereolithography (SLA) printer and was the first to commercialize it in 1989.

•3DS invented Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing and was the first to commercialize it in 1992.

•3DS invented the Color-Jet-Printing (CJP) class of 3D printers and was the first to commercialize 3D powder-based systems in 1994.

•3DS invented Multi-Jet-Printing (MJP) printers and was the first to commercialize it in 1996.

Today its comprehensive range of 3D printers is the industry’s benchmark for production-grade manufacturing in aerospace, automotive, patient specific medical device and a variety of consumer, electronic and fashion accessories.